2_Houston Texans2

Pittsburgh Steelers Gameday HQ

offensive lines will look to contain once he learns the intricacies
of the NFL game.
To round out the front seven, the Texans have a solid linebacker
group revolving around Clowney, Brian Cushing and Whitney
Mercilus. When he has played, Cushing has shown that he is a toptier
middle linebacker that any team would be proud to have. The
issue has been health over the last two seasons, as he has played a
total of 12 games in 2012 and 2013 combined. While playing nearly
half the season last year, Cushing had a hand in 48 tackles before
succumbing to the injury bug. If anything should happen to Cushing
again, the team is hoping that Mercilus continues to progress in his
third year. After starting every game in his second year in the NFL,
Mercilus had seven sacks and now has 13 for his career.
The biggest addition to the defense though, could be new
defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel. The former Kansas City
coach and New England assistant has always had an eye for
defense. To help teach his scheme, the Texans brought in veteran
safeties Kendrick Lewis and Chris Clemons. The hope is that a new
scheme under a new coach can improve a unit that finished near
the bottom in the league in points allowed last season.
Defensive Player to Watch
While the defense runs through All-Pro defensive end Watt,
Clowney should benefit from the attention that teams keep on the
lineman. The Texans hope that Clowney can translate his Saturday
success into production on Sundays. If he can make his presence
known on the opposite side of Watt, he will force teams to pay
attention to him. This will free up both players to wreak havoc in
opponents’ backfields over the course of the season. In doing so, this
will also ease the pressure on an already thin defensive backfield
unit. The rookie’s play will have a lot to say in how far the Texans
defense will go in the 2014 season.
Key Additions:
RB Andre Brown, QB Ryan Fitzpatrick,
S Kendrick Lewis, DT Jerrell Powe
Key Subtractions:
TE Owen Daniels, RB Ben Tate, DT Earl
Mitchell, DE Antonio Smith, S Danieal
Manning, CB Brice McCain, LB Darryl
Sharpton, LB Joe Mays
Rookies:
LB Jadeveon Clowney, G Xavier Su’a-Filo,
TE C.J. Fiedorowicz, NT Louis Nix, QB Tom
Savage, DE Jeoffrey Pagan, RB Alfred Blue,
FB Jay Prosch, CB Andre Hal,
S Lonnie Ballentine
SCOREBOARD
Texans Special Teams
In a season that was basically his rookie year, kicker Randy
Bullock converted 74.3 percent of his kicks. While not eyepopping
numbers, he improved in the team’s final seven games.
In those games, he did not miss a single kick, making 12 kicks
including his longest of the season, a 51-yarder against the
Oakland Raiders.
The punt team is in good hands as Shane Lechler comes
back for another season after coming over from the Raiders in
free-agency the previous year. Lechler sported his cannon of a
leg as he averaged 47.6 yards per kick in his inaugural season
in Houston. Not only did he provide a boost to the punt team,
he continued to develop chemistry with placekicker Bullock
which helped to improve the kicking game over the final seven
games of the year.
PETER AIKEN/GETTY IMAGES SPORT
J.J. Watt
Prediction
If everything breaks right, the Texans can make a run at
Indianapolis for the Division crown. Fitzpatrick will need
to show his prowess in handling the offense, Foster will
need to revert back to form and the defense will need to put
constant pressure on the quarterback to ease pressure on their
defensive backs.
2013 2012 2011 2010 2009
Playoff Finish - DIV DIV - -
Regular Season W-L 2-14 12-4 10-6 6-10 9-7
Points Per Game 17.25ppg 26ppg 23.81ppg 24.38ppg 24.25ppg
Points Allowed Per Game 26.75ppg 20.69ppg 17.38ppg 26.69ppg 20.81ppg
Yards Per Game 347.25ypg 372.06ypg 372.13ypg 386.63ypg 383.06ypg
Yards Allowed Per Game 317.56ypg 323.25ypg 285.69ypg 376.94ypg 324.88ypg
Turnovers 30 16 20 18 28
Takeaways 11 29 27 18 27